Corruption Crackdown on Lebanon as US Plans New Sanctions on Officials

The United States is due to impose fresh sanctions on Lebanese officials in an effort to combat corruption, sources close to the US State Department have said.

The measures will also aim to shift Hezbollah’s long-standing position of protecting corrupt practices across the country.

Among the individuals being potentially targeted is former Minister of Communications Jamal Jarrah, who the US has accused of corruption and illegally profiting from his previous position.

Activists who met with Assistant US Secretary of State David Schenker via video chat told IranWire US officials had assured them that the Office of Foreign Entity Assets Control and other divisions within the Treasury Department were currently studying the cases of several current and former officials. This includes individuals from various Lebanese political movements identified as being involved in corrupt or "malicious" activities in Lebanon.

Breaking the Cycle of Corruption

Speaking to IranWire, activist Khalil Al-Dani, a leader in the newly-formed revolutionary bloc, said that the majority of Lebanese people see international sanctions against corrupt officials in Lebanon as fair punishment, and that these sanctions are in fact one of their basic demands. The bloc was set up in October in response to anti-corruption protests. He added that as activists in the revolution, he and his colleagues always stress "the need for the international community to hold corrupt individuals in Lebanon accountable as well as to help the people to recoup stolen assets and money that has been smuggled out of Lebanon."

Al-Dani also explained that for years, Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, has consistently supported corruption on a massive scale, including the corrupt practices of other parties and movements, and it often shows this support by using violence and weapons. These tactics have been condoned by the groups that gain from them, which in turn has a knock-on impact on other regional and international relations.

"There is no real difference between the ruling parties in Lebanon,” Al-Dani said. “They are all partners in the corrupt system. Everything presented to public opinion are merely political games reflecting the interests of their leaders, such as what happened between the leaders of the Free Patriotic Movement and the Future Movement regarding the settlement they reached, despite previously being hostile to one another."

US Ambassador Dorothy Shea confirmed to anti-corruption activists who she spoke with recently that US sanctions would continue and even escalate against Lebanese officials regardless of the administration in place at the White House.

Shea explained that the Magnitsky Act, which gives the US government the power to sanction political officials in countries around the world for corruption and the suppression of freedoms, was approved during the term of President Barack Obama, and has been applied during the terms of both President Obama and President Trump.

The United States recently imposed sanctions on former Lebanese Minister Gebran Bassil on grounds of corruption and approving suspicious deals linked to Hezbollah.

The sanctions imposed by the US government include measures to prevent entry into its territories, freezing the bank accounts of the people facing sanctions, and prohibitions against any money transfers in their names or the names of their partners, as well as other measures.

Related coverage: 

US Imposes Sanctions on Former Lebanese Minister With Links to Hezbollah